Something about making bracelets gets me all nostalgic, reminiscing the days growing up with the mini loom in my hands and making bracelets and pot holders. These were some of my favorite activities growing up, and that is besides making mud pies! Hey, I was a tad bit of a tom boy and loved all things that included dirt and trees 😉 After seeing how easy it was to make bracelets with this handmade ‘weaver’, I was all in! These BFF bracelets are easy and a lot of fun!
My oldest, who is newly 7 years old going on 15 years old, was so excited to make BFF bracelets with me. It made my heart happy to see her so excited about doing something I was excited about too! My son was even contemplating making one with us. As you can see, the smallest of the bunch had to feel included as well. Oh my sweet Chloe! So, if you grew up making those potholders and friendship bracelets like I did, be prepared to walk back down memory lane with this tutorial.
Items Needed:
Embroidery Floss (picked up this mixed colored bag for only $4 at Michaels!)
1 sheet of thick foam (or can use a piece of card board)
Scissors for cutting the foam (or card board)
Let’s get to making those BFF bracelets!
You will first need to cut out your weaving tool. To do this, cut a circle out of the piece of foam. Once you have your circle, you will cut 8, 1″ slots around the circle. It makes it easier to distance them equally around the circle. The last step is to make a hole in the very center. Push a pen or pencil through the center of the circle to create this hole.
Pick out those colors!
Time to pick those bracelet colors! You will need to pick out 7 different colors (or could make it all one solid color as long as you have 7 pieces of floss). After you have your embroidery floss colors picked out, cut each piece about 18″ long. You could get a way with 15″-16″, but I like to know I have enough extra in case I goof up my knots in the beginning or end! Gather all your cut floss and tie a knot to secure them all together.
Take the knotted floss and push the knot through the hole in the center of the circle. You may need to use a pencil or pen to help push it through. Next, you will separate the colored floss among all the slots on the circle, leaving one slot empty (8 slots and only 7 floss pieces). Now to weaving!
For the weaving, you will do a ‘every 3’ cross over. Start with the floss that is 3 from the left of the empty slot. It will skip over 2 colors and will be placed into the empty slot. Then working by turning your circle to the right, you will take the next color that is 3 from the new empty slot and skip 2 colors that are between it and the empty slot. Place it into the empty slot. You will do this until you have your bracelet made!
As you are crossing over, you will need to pull the bracelet some on the knotted side of the circle. You will know when this needs to be done because the bracelet will start back up in the circle 🙂
Tie that knot!
Once your bracelet is complete (only took us about 5 minutes!), you will pull the bracelet out of the circle and tie a knot on the end of the bracelet. Then tie the bracelet onto your wrist! If you want to have a little extra fun, add a small charm to the bracelet with a single strand of thread from one of the floss colors 🙂
I hope you all enjoy making these BFF bracelets as we did!
Awesome! Friendship bracelets also remind me of bring young at summer camp. I love that you made your own frame to create your bracelets on so all you need to buy is the thread. I can’t wait till my kiddos are a bit older to share these creative memories with.
I didn’t even think about summer camps…we did the same thing 🙂
These are so fun to make! Will definitely be saving!
Yes they are! We had so much fun!
Thank you so much!